Charley is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

located in the

North West Leicestershire North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 census was 93,348. Its main towns are Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Castle Donington, Coalville and Ibstock. The dist ...

district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 203, increasing to 236 at the 2011 census. It is set within the

Charnwood Forest Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; i ...

The name 'Charley' means 'wood/clearing with a

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

'. A quarry within the parish was the source of ''Charley Forest'' whetstones.1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Charley is near to

Shepshed Shepshed (often known until 1888 as ''Sheepshed'', also ''Sheepshead'' – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry) is a town in Leicestershire, England with a population of 13,505 at the 2011 census. It is ...

Copt Oak Copt Oak is a place in Leicestershire in England. It is in the North West Leicestershire district, near Bawdon Lodge, Charley and Ulverscroft. In its name, ''cop'' is an old English word for ''head'', i.e. " eeaded oak" = "pollarded oak". Fe ...

and

Whitwick Whitwick is a large village in Leicestershire, England, close to the town of Coalville in the northwest of the county. It lies in an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. It was an ...

. The parish of Charley contains

Mount Saint Bernard Abbey Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic, Trappist monastery near Coalville, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1835 in the parish of Whitwick and now in that of Charley. The abbey was the first permanent monastery to be founded in England ...

and the hamlet of

Oaks in Charnwood Oaks in Charnwood is a hamlet of scattered houses in the English county of Leicestershire within the Charnwood Forest. Oaks in Charnwood is located in and is part of the Civil Parish of Charley in North West Leicestershire. The ecclesiastical Pa ...

. The parish church of St James the Greater, Oaks in Charnwood was consecrated on 18 June 1815, the same day as the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

and a selection of French lances captured from the battle can be seen inside the church, mounted on the north wall.

References

External links

Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire North West Leicestershire District {{Leicestershire-geo-stub